Adaptive. inclusive.

The thing about teaching yoga for kids is that each child is totally unique. And so is their yoga.

Yoga has become part of our mainstream social experience, and we see images of people doing yoga everywhere. The person doing yoga often looks the same. She (it's almost always a woman) is doing a well known yoga pose, like Warrior 2 or Downward Dog, or some impossible looking pose. Therefore, that, we think, is what yoga looks like.

But what is yoga? Yoga is an ancient tradition that means to "yoke" or unite the mind and body. This is achieved through the breath and through linking the breath to physical movement. A complete yoga practice includes the five movements of the spine: Flexion, Extension, Side bend, Twist & Inversion, linked to the breath and done with awareness. That's it. That's yoga. It's all customized from there.

For many kids, yoga does not look like the poses in the magazine. It looks like their yoga.It looks like simple movements with their breath. It might look like rolling up in their yoga mat. It might be called "Plants vs Zombie" yoga (if that is their special interest...) or it might be blowing bubbles.But it is yoga.​The goals and the benefits are the same. Maybe eventually it will build into a 30 minute or hour long practice with all the traditional poses. Maybe not. It doesn't really matter. Linking body, mind and breath. Increasing awareness, mindfulness, calm. This is yoga. Not all yoga looks the same, it doesn't have to.